00:00:00.000her hand traces the fjord in her thigh she counts the things she is afraid of
00:00:12.640nothing her own fingers ring seals trapped in the freezing sea
00:00:17.600The legend of Sedna flows through the icy waters of the Atlantic, told and retold in
00:00:33.180many places, bending to each culture. But no matter the version, one thing remains the
00:00:39.020same. Sedna is the mother of all sea creatures, and as goddess of the deep, she decides when
00:00:45.720the seals, the whales, the walrus and the fish will rise to meet the hunters of the north.
00:00:52.500Sedna belongs to a worldwide pantheon of water goddesses. Across global myths, seas and rivers
00:00:59.260are rarely empty. They are alive with beings older and more powerful than the people who fish their
00:01:05.620waters. In Greece, there was Thalassa, the primordial personification of the sea, who some
00:01:12.480say gave birth to Aphrodite herself. The Sumerians spoke of Nammu, goddess of the primeval salt
00:01:19.380waters, and Nansha, patron of the seas and fishing. The Egyptians told of Naunet, the primeval
00:01:27.040waters surrounding the earth. And in China, sailors prayed to Mazu, a mortal fisherman's0.84
00:01:33.260daughter transformed into the goddess who guarded those who ventured out upon dangerous tides.
00:01:39.440But sea goddesses are not always maternal protectors.
00:01:43.740The Norse feared Ran, who dragged ships beneath the waves and gathered round sailors in her net, demanding gold and lives alike.
00:01:53.280Even the mermaids of Old Europe were not the sweet Disney imaginings we know today, but half women, half fish, luring men into watery graves.
00:02:03.740Sedna's legacy embodies both these traditions. Under the alternate names Sasuma, Arnaha and
00:02:11.520Nerevik, among others, her common name is Sidna, Sedna or Sana, formed from the root
00:02:19.060Sa, meaning in front, and the affix Na, the one who, hence her literal meaning that one
00:02:26.000who is before. She is remembered as both woman and something other, a figure of terrible
00:02:33.160power who became the sea's mistress, not through choice, but through violence and betrayal.
00:02:42.200The story of Sedna is a creation myth that explains how she came to rule over Adleivun,
00:02:48.100the Inuit underworld deep beneath the sea. Adleivun, meaning those who live beneath us,
00:02:54.040is a frigid, frozen realm, sometimes described as a wasteland of ice, where the dead are purified
00:03:00.460before their journey to the land of the moon for eternal rest. In carvings and sculptures, Sedna is
00:03:07.700often shown as half woman, half sea creature, her long hair drifting around her like kelp, her lower
00:03:14.700body transformed into the tail of a whale or a sea. Sedna's hair is said to be so thick that it0.68
00:03:21.000covers the entire ocean floor and her hut, trapping animals within it. She functioned as a symbol of0.66
00:03:27.740fertility and as the creator and controller of most sea animals. The Inuit participated in a0.99
00:03:34.860complex, sympathetic and reverential relationship with her, as they were entirely dependent upon
00:03:40.800her for the provision of animals for the hunt. All aspects of the Inuit's lives were regulated
00:03:45.840by the system of rules and regulations designed to appease Sedna. Some legends have her as the
00:03:52.500daughter of a goddess named Isara Taesuk, while most only mention her father, the creator god
00:03:58.900Anguta. Every telling of her legend agrees on one terrible turning point. Sedna, betrayed,
00:04:06.880is cast into the sea by her own father. She clings to the edge of his kayak, desperate to survive,
00:04:12.760but he cuts off her fingers one by one. As they sink into the freezing waters,
00:04:18.660each finger becomes a living creature sedna herself sinks to the ocean floor where she reigns
00:04:25.380as the mother of the sea inuit hunters must honor her for she alone decides whether they will return
00:04:31.380home with food or empty hands offerings of broken knives worn harpoon heads scraps of bone and meat
00:04:38.080were once cast into the waves to soothe her wrath and coax the sea animals back to the surface
00:04:43.940but the reasons behind her transformation vary from place to place. In some stories Sedna is
00:04:50.600punished for being vain, forever combing her long dark hair, scorning the suitors brought to her0.79
00:04:55.920and in one instance even marrying a dog. In others she is a giant ravenous daughter who0.98
00:05:02.140turns against her own parents in her hunger for human flesh, gnawing on their limbs as they sleep.
00:05:07.680Another version recounts her as a mistreated orphan whom the people, when moving to another
00:05:12.520settlement, attempt to drown by chopping off her fingers. Most often, though, she is remembered as
00:05:18.360a beautiful maiden who defied expectations and paid the ultimate price.
00:05:29.260Long ago, in the cold and endless north, there lived a young woman named Sedna.
00:05:35.420She was striking with her long black hair and sharp cleverness, a huntress as skilled as any
00:05:41.680man in her village. Suitors came to her father's house, strong hunters with fine gifts, but Sedna
00:05:48.920sent them all away. She needed no husband to feed or clothe her. Her father grew angry. He wanted
00:05:57.080her to be like other women, to marry, to settle. At last, in his fury, he sent her to live alone
00:06:03.600on an abandoned island, hoping the sea winds would soften her heart. There, Sedna waited until one
00:06:11.540day a handsome stranger came. He promised her everything, warmth, comfort, meat and skins and
00:06:19.340plenty. Lonely, tired and tempted, Sedna agreed and she sailed away with him. But the man was not
00:06:27.640what he seemed. He was no hunter. He was cruel and he starved her. When news of her suffering
00:06:34.180reached her father, he and his kin set sail to rescue Sedna. They carried her back into their
00:06:40.440boat, but her husband followed in his true form, a giant eagle. He beat the air with his wings
00:06:47.040until storms broke over the sea, waves rearing high, the boat rocking wildly. Sedna clung to
00:06:53.680the side, screaming for her father to save her. But fearing the eagle's wrath, he raised his
00:06:59.540ulu knife and, in desperation, cut off her fingers one by one. Sedna sank beneath the waves.
00:07:08.420from her severed fingers swam the first seals the first walruses the first whales
00:07:14.800and Sedna herself became something more than human the mother of the sea
00:07:19.760but she was not gentle she dwelt in a house at the bottom of the ocean
00:07:26.520guarded by a great dog her hair tangled and filthy with no fingers she could not comb it
00:07:33.380and in her knots, the sea creatures grew trapped,
00:07:36.840kept from the hunters who depended on them.
00:07:40.440When famine came, the Inuit would call for the Agakok, the shaman,
00:07:45.700to journey in trance down into the deep.0.98